


Blue

by sunny_impalas



Series: Tumblr Stories [9]
Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: 1960s, Absent Fathers, Absent Parents, Blue Eyes, Canon-Typical Violence, Cheating, Greasers, It's Sad Then Not As Sad, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Sweet Ending, Two-Bit Mathews Is Sad, Underage Drinking, because obviously, broken home, cliff hanger, grey eyes, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-02-10 12:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18660559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunny_impalas/pseuds/sunny_impalas
Summary: "And suddenly, blue was his favorite color again."





	Blue

Keith's favorite color was blue. It was the color of the sky, the ocean, and his favorite flavor of the popsicles his mom bought. His dad's eyes were blue, and he thought they were the prettiest blue he had ever seen. He loved his dad. He was tall and he laughed a lot, everybody said Two-Bit was just like his father, a regular chip off the block, in looks and personality.

Keith didn't understand why though. His eyes were like his mothers, grey, not blue. He never said anything about it though, because the comparison always made his father grin. He thought his father was Superman, but he guessed that all little boys thought that.

One day though, he caught his father kissing a woman that wasn't his mother. His mother's hair was brown, not blonde. His mother's eyes were grey, not blue. Before his dad could say anything to try and explain himself Keith ran back outside to where his mother was unloading groceries and told her what he had seen. First, his mother's eyes looked shocked, then sad, and then filled with pure rage.

She handed him his baby sister and told him to stay outside for a while. He nodded and sat on the concrete, sitting his sister on his lap. He jumped through when he heard his father and mother start to scream at each other. He swallowed and looked around, avoiding the eyes of the peanut gallery gathering on the sidewalk in front of the driveway.

After a few minutes the blonde stepped outside, waiting by the door. Hours seemed to pass that were really minutes, but his father finally came outside. He had a suitcase in hand, the blonde smiled at him and took his arm, they walked to his father's car and they separated to get in. Once they were both buckled in safely, his father started to drive away. The small crowd parted like the Red Sea as the car drove away.

Keith stood, his little sister in his arms as he started to run after the car. Sadly, he wasn't fast enough to catch up with it and his father and the mystery woman sped away. His mother ran up beside him, she looked lost. He looked up at her, a scared look on his face.

"When is Daddy comin' back Mama?" He asked, his little sister clung to his blue shirt. He hoped his father wouldn't be gone for too long, Christmas was in a few months! He didn't want Santa to not bring him something.

His mother swallowed and picked him up, kissing his forehead. She took his sister in the other arm and started to walk back up to the house, paying no mind to the constant questions coming from the other neighborhood women who had come to see what was happening. Keith waved at them, vaguely wondering why they all looked so sad. He saw a little boy holding his mother's hand, he looked a little older than him. His hair was a dark brown and his eyes were pale, he smiled and waved.

Keith smiled and waved back, turning back to face his mom. They were quiet as they walked back into the house and the door shut behind them. Keith's mother set him and his sister down, letting his sister crawl around the floor. Keith tried to walk off to play with her, but his mother touched his shoulder to keep him still. She knelt down to his height and swallowed, how was she going to tell him this?

The six-year-old smiled up at his mother, rocking on his heels. She sighed and touched her forehead to his, figuring the best way to break the news would for it to be quick, like a band-aid.

"Honey, I don't think your dad is gonna come back." She whispered, tears once again gathering in her eyes. She worked at the local bar as a barmaid, she could keep doing that to try and support her and her kids.

Her son's face changed to something sad, "Why won't he come home Mama? Doesn't he love us?"

Ms. Mathews sighed and swallowed her tears, she sunk down to sit on her knees. She grabbed the redhead and pulled him onto her lap, kissing his forehead. "I thought he did too, honey, but I guess that other woman meant more to him."

Keith started to get angry, why did that other woman mean more to his father than he did? He pulled away from his mother and ran to his room. He looked around and hated that he only saw blue, in his mind, blue meant his father. He grabbed his bed sheets, struggling with them as he pulled them off of the bed. He took a breath and looked at his shirt, he let out a frustrated yell and pulled it off of himself, he threw it to the ground with the blankets and went to his dresser, grabbing a grey one, like his mother's eyes.

He then went through his dresser, pulling out every blue shirt he could find. When he was done, he was left with a few grey, green, and red shirts. He looked around his room, feeling small compared to the baby blue walls that surrounded him. He finally gave up and fell to the ground, tears falling down his face. He curled into himself, the sobs wracking his small frame.

His mother heard the sobs and walked in, biting her lip when she saw her son. She quickly sent a few unholy words to the man upstairs and walked over to him, scooping him up and sitting on his bed with him on her lap. Keith simply kept crying into her shirt.

Ms. Mathews’ heart hurt for Keith, but she was helpless to do anything else besides pull him closer and hum quietly to try and calm him down. She had put his sister down for a nap a few minutes ago, so she had time to calm him down. After a few minutes he had stopped crying, only a few sniffs and hiccups leaving him occasionally.

His mother kissed the top of his head, sighing softly as he looked up at her, his eyes bloodshot. He rested his head on her chest, looking down at his knees. Slowly, he realized that he had just made a mess of his room. He had cleaned his room this morning, his mother had been so proud of him too, and he ruined it. He started to tear up again and looked back up at his mother.

“I’m sorry for messing up my room mama..” He apologized, his voice starting to shake again.

Ms. Mathews’ shoulders dropped, but she still smiled at her son and kissed his head. “It’s alright honey, we can clean up your room. And if you want we can paint the walls too, whatever color you want.”

The suggestion made the six-year-old’s eyes light up, and he quickly jumped off of his mother’s lap to pick up the shirts that were scattered across the floor and his bedsheets. He put them all in a pile on the floor then looked at the one on top, he stared at it for a few seconds before grabbing it and stuffing it messily back into the dresser.

Ms. Mathews knelt down and grabbed the blankets off the floor she rolled them up, not feeling like folding them up. She set them on the foot of Keith’s bed and walked up behind Keith, she picked him up suddenly, swinging him around the room. The child laughed, letting himself be carried out of the room and into the living room. His mother turned on the radio, an Elvis song started to play out through the speakers.

“ _ You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog _

_ Cryin’ all the time _

_ Well, you ain’t ever caught a rabbit, and you ain’t no friend of mine. _ ”

And suddenly, Keith forgot about his father leaving, even if it was just for a few minutes. He felt like everything would be okay.

 

From that day forward, he hated the color blue. More specifically, people with blue eyes. He didn’t know why, he knew they weren’t his father, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that blue eyes were just a sign that someone was going to leave. He had some acquaintances that were blue eyed, but he didn’t really think highly of them.

He had gone downhill since his dad had left, but he made sure that his mother would never have to come home to see him bruised and bloody. He was smart, but he never turned anything in and so the teachers and rest of the students thought he was dumb. He wasn’t dumb though, and his mother knew that, but she also knew that Keith just didn’t feel like trying at school anymore. So she didn’t say anything, instead she just didn’t ask for report cards and didn’t listen to the teachers during meetings.

He talked back too, he made snarky comments that made him be sent to the principal’s office. He hated the principal. Mr. Davis always tried to talk to him like it was the military, and he had blue eyes. He tried occasionally though, just so his mom would have something to put up on the fridge.

His friends had taken to calling him Two-Bit, seeing as he always needed to get his two bit’s worth in. He liked it, he liked that people didn’t know he was named after his dead beat of a father. He had started to hang out with some other people, Dallas and Steve. They were cool, and tough.

One day Steve and him were sitting in front of his house, cigarettes hanging loosely from their mouths as they talked. Well, talking meant more of sitting in silence and Keith cracking a joke every now and then. Steve seemed to have something on his mind and it was bugging Keith.

Finally, Keith’s nerves got to him and he asked Steve.

“Man, what the hell is buggin’ you?” He asked, flipping his cigarette to the concrete and crushing it underneath his heel.

Steve chuckled and shrugged, “Not much, just thinking ‘bout how I should head over to the Curtis’ soon.”

“The who’s?” Keith asked again, the name sounded familiar, but he didn’t know why.

“The Curtis. Y’know, Sodapop? Ponyboy? Darry?” Steve said, his tone dead pan.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, thm.” He had no idea who that was.

Steve went quiet again and Keith followed suit. He didn’t feel like pushing it. They sat for a while longer and Keith pulled out another cig and lit it, inhaling the disease ridden smoke once again. He didn’t know when he started smoking, all he knew was that he was thirteen now and he sure didn’t know where Steve had gotten the pack, seeing as they both looked about a year younger than they were at the time.

Steve stood up and stretched his arms, looking down at the older boy.

“You wanna come with me? The Curtis’ are pretty cool. And you’d probably be able to snag a bite to eat.” He said, flicking his cigarette away from himself. He didn’t crush it, but it was so used up it put itself out within a few seconds anyways.

Keith shrugged and stood up, what harm could it do? And he’d be able to find out who the hell Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Darry were, and their parents who were weird enough to give them those damn names.. And, to be honest, something to eat sounded amazing. And he’d be able to stretch out his legs, he had been sitting for a damn long time.

Steve started to walk and Keith followed. Steve whistled at some girls across the street and Keith copied him. He didn’t know why he did, if his mother had seen him do it his mother would’ve strung him out with the drying laundry. But, even then, he didn’t really have an answer as to why he did it, so he shrugged it off and shoved his hands in his pockets.

They walked for a few minutes, exchanging a few words and jokes. It was just a few months til Christmas. Keith sighed at the thought, although he’d never admit it, he always missed his dad around this time of year. When he was younger he’d wait by the front door on Christmas eve waiting and hoping that his father would come home. But as the years passed, he slowly got used to the idea that his father was just a cheating bastard that wasn’t a damn thing.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Steve turned to walk up the sidewalk towards one of the houses. He slowly followed the brunet up the walk. It was a quaint house, only one floor, although he didn’t know if there was a basement or not. It had a chain link fence surrounding the front yard. It was an off white, bricks made up the front porch.

The lights were on and the curtains were closed. Making it so Keith could only see a few silhouettes of people walking around what he assumed to be the living room. He also heard loud laughter coming from the house, and someone, a woman’s voice, yelling at the boys to calm down. He could tell though that she didn’t really mean it, she just had to say to make it seem like she did.

Finally, Steve and him reached the front door. He was waiting for Steve to knock but was surprised when the door opened first, he squinted at the bright light suddenly flooding out from inside the home. Steve laughed and pulled whoever opened the door into a headlock, giving them a noogie.

When Steve let them go he realized it was a kid their age, his hair was a dark blond and his eyes were dark brown. He had seen Steve hanging around him, but had never caught his name.

“Heya Soda!” Steve greeted, a wide grin on his face as he walked into the house, only to be tackled by another boy.

So, the blonde was Soda. Okay, one brother down, two to go. Keith walked in, a little surprised at how welcoming it was. Usually when he went to a friend’s house, he said hi to their parents then went to their room. These guys were more like a family than just friends.

Steve and the other guy wrestled for a minute til the woman walked out and scolded them. She looked just like Soda, so Keith figured he was his mom, Mrs. Curtis. He was stood awkwardly by the door until she noticed him. When she did she smiled and walked over.

“Well, hello there, which of the boys brought you over to the barn ?” She asked. She had a playful look in her eye, her glasses halfway to falling off of her nose.

“That’s Two-Bit.” Steve exclaimed, still wrestling with the other boy.

Now that Keith could get a better look at him, he recognised him as Dallas Winston. Holy shit. Dallas was a hard as rock asshole, and he was hanging out with these people? What the hell? He just shook it off and looked back to Mrs. Curtis.

“Um, Steve invited me over, if that’s okay, Miss.”

Mrs. Curtis smiled and nodded, patting his shoulder and hurrying off to the kitchen. Keith smiled, feeling the adrenaline fueling the room start to pump through his own veins. He glanced around, Dallas was laughing and walking back to a quiet kid he hadn’t even noticed was there. He had dark hair and even darker eyes. His skin was tanned slightly, a fist sized bruise covering his cheek.

He smiled though when Dallas walked over, greeting him quietly. The dark haired kid was sat next to another one who had his nose buried in some book. He looked around, wondering where the hell the other brothers were. He figured they’d look like Mrs. Curtis.

Dallas looked over the kid and got a playful glint in his eye, snatching the book from him and holding it above his head. The kid started to whine and jump up, trying to grab the book from the blond.

“C’mon Dally! Just give it to me!” He whined, glaring up at the much taller boy.

“Nah. You’ve been readin’ this thing all day, Pony. Live a little!” He was laughing as he said it, putting the book on the highest bookshelf he could reach, knowing that Pony wouldn’t be able to reach it.

Wait, so that was Ponyboy? So, their dad was a redhead? Alright. He was wondering if Darry would be the youngest or the oldest, and whether or not he’d be blond or a redhead.

“You’re a jerk Dally!” Pony spat, huffing and sitting back on the floor.

Dally just laughed and sat back down next to the dark haired kid, putting his arm around his shoulders. Keith looked around and sat on the couch, smiling when he saw it was Mickey Mouse playing on the T.V. He sighed and decided to keep watching. It had calmed down a bit until someone came walking down the hall, someone complaining and asking to be put down.

Keith cocked an eyebrow and looked over to see someone grinning like a mad man. Whoever was flung over his shoulder was calling him dad, so that was Mr. Curtis? What the hell? Why was Pony a redhead if his dad was a brunet? He didn’t have time to think about it though as the kid that Mr. Curtis was holding was dropped onto the couch, and part way on his lap.

Keith was about to push him off, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he got a look at the kid’s face. His hair was messed up and there were freckles scattered across his cheeks. He looked just like his dad. The kid rolled his eyes as Mr. Curtis walked away laughing.

He was all legs. His head was at the other side of the couch, and his legs took up the rest of it, and part of Keith’s lap. The boy looked over at Keith and smiled, still not moving.

“Hi, I’m Darry.” He said, his voice happy and light. His blue eyes sparkled in the light, like a glacier during the summer.

And suddenly, blue was his favorite color again.

**Author's Note:**

> did this need to exist? no. does it? yes.


End file.
